The only resident left in Snowdin is Monster Kid, who scoffs that adults are dumb for running away when Undyne is gonna be here to protect us anyway.

The rest of the town is abandoned. You can't sleep at the inn, but the shop going unmanned means that you can help yourself to the till (to the tune of about 700 gold) and take all of the goods you want (and read a note left behind that simply says "Please don't hurt my family"). I pick up a free Manly Bandana for the next equipment upgrade, and fill my inventory with Cinnamon Buns. I haven't needed much in the way of healing items, since killing monsters tends to be quicker than Mercying them, and all the LOVE I'm amassing means I have plenty of HP to withstand the occasional attack round.

Papyrus, unportraited: HEY, QUIT MOVING WHILE I'M TALKING TO YOU! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY. FIRST: YOU'RE A FREAKING WEIRDO! NOT ONLY DO YOU NOT LIKE PUZZLES, BUT THE WAY YOU SHAMBLE ABOUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE... THE WAY YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS COVERED IN DUSTY POWDER.

Papyrus: IT FEELS... LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH. HOWEVER! I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL IN YOU! EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY! AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!

Papyrus: HEY, QUIT MOVING! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! HUMAN! I THINK YOU ARE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE! SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! BUT WORRY NOT! I, PAPYRUS, WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE RIGHT AROUND!

Papyrus: I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING. ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE? WOWIE!! MY LESSONS ARE ALREADY WORKING!! I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!

Oh my god.

Oh my god, you guys.

Papyrus sees this murderous hellion on his way through his hometown, killing everyone and singlehandedly prompting an evacuation, and rather than fight, at all, he offers to mentor the poor brat. He wants to hug the evil right out of them.

Guys.

I can't. I can't do it. Papyrus is just too optimistic and pure for me to punch to death while his guard is down.

: YOU DIDN'T DO A VIOLENCE!!!

: TO BE HONEST, I WAS A LITTLE AFRAID...

: BUT YOU'RE ALREADY BECOMING A GREAT PERSON!

: I'M SO PROUD I COULD CRY!!!

: WAIT, WASN'T I SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE YOU...?

: WELL, FORGET IT! I JUST WANT YOU TO BE THE BEST PERSON YOU CAN BE. SO LET'S LET BYBONES BE BYBONES. I'LL EVEN TELL YOU HOW TO LEAVE THE UNDERGROUND!

And he does, using the same script he does on the neutral path, since that's what I'm on now.

As I said before, though painful, doing a Genocide run is required to see the full development of all the characters.

Sans in particular.

Also, yeah, "Papyrus is sparing you" is probably the most heart wrenching thing ever. I've read about a lot of people who steel their hearts for a Genocide run just stopping forever right there, because man.

MarsDragon wrote:I'm tempted to do a Genocide Run, but having to grind sounds like a complete pain in the ass. It's already more interesting than any other run, though.

Not only is grinding out kind of a pain, but the more you kill in any given area, the random encounter rate drops.

But I exploit a bug in the game, self-discovered but apparently well-known. If the game loses focus while there's directional input on the controller, Frisk will start walking in place. It counts as moving for the sake of getting into random encounters, so you can just dick around in a web browser or something for a few minutes (often, yes, whole minutes in real time) until the next monster wanders into you.

Once you hit "But Nobody Came" though, the encounter rate resets to normal. It's almost like the genocide run is supposed to be annoying and unfun!

(Paper Mario revealed to me my ultimate desire to just play a game where you can talk to an NPC on every discrete screen in the game for new and pointless bits of commentary. Undertale does a lot to scratch that itch. It doesn't do THE MOST, but it does a whole lot.)

The music in Waterfall is also slowed and off-key, which is a little strange since it was already a slowed version of Undyne's theme.

Monster Kid remains resolute to see Undyne in action.

It's a little weird that all of the Waterfall chase scenes play out like usual, but I mean, it's not that weird. That's how Undyne acts when she's pursuing a serial murderer with the intent to rip out their soul.

All of the echo flowers in Waterfall are quiet.

The bridge blossoms are already in place.

Though, uh, that's not where I typically put them.

You still have to align them yourself if you want a benchful of quiche.

It sure is, little guy. Now hold still a second.

The icon for a random encounter has gone from an exclamation point to a smiling face. There's no longer any surprise from getting into a fight, just the anticipation of getting to kill something else.

The game got patched a couple of days ago. One of the changes is that the piano puzzle is made easier: once you put an umbrella in the statue, wait around for a bit and the solution will start floating around above you.

Mad Dummy: But now all of their neighbors are gone, too!Mad Dummy: Despicable. Despicable! DESPICABLE!Mad Dummy, thrashing around: You're the worst person I've ever met! I've NEVER been more mad!!! Guooooohhhh!!!! My mannequin levels are going OFF THE CHARTS!!!

Blook family farms is deserted. Napstablook has nothing to fear, but what about the poor snails?

Gerson's shop is still manned. Turtled. Occupied. Whatever.

You can still buy Crab Apples and Sea Tea, and the Torn Notebook and Cloudy Glasses. Gerson growls "Don't expect a discount", but I'm pretty surprised he still sells anything at all.

You can try to sell him stuff, but he replies "I wouldn't buy your chitzy garbage at knifepoint". Which is good, because I can pretty well imagine that's how it'd happen.

If you talk to him, your options are "Fate", "Threat", "Fight", and "Hero".

Fate:Gerson: Long ago, ASGORE and I agreed that escaping would be pointless... Since once we left, humans would just kill us.

I'd wondered about that.

Gerson continues: I felt a little betrayed when he eventually changed his mind. But now, I think... Maybe he was right to. 'Cause after all, even though we never escaped... A human's killing us anyway, ain't that right?

Yeah. You're all trapped down here with me. I guess if there was more than one path to follow I could eventually find where everyone is fleeing to, and track them all down...

Threat:Gerson: I've lived too long to be afraid of something like you. Try it, kiddo! ...I know you can't here. Wah ha... Knowledge like that is the only reason I've survived so long.

So you owe your life to leaning on the fourth wall, knowing that you can't get into a fight when in a shop interface?

Fight:Gerson: Eh? Fight you? Nah... I'm not a hero. Never was. And b'sides... These old bones aren't fit for fighting anyhoo. One attack from you, and then I'd... well... At least by talking to you, I've bought enough time for some of them to escape.

Gerson might be an ugly old fart but he's still got a mind like a steel trap, and doesn't take any shit from anybody.

Hero:Gerson: I'm not a hero. But I know there's someone out there. Someone who'll never give up trying to do the right thing, no matter what. There's no prophecy or legend 'bout anyone like that. It's just something I know is true. That someone like that will strike you down.

You can effortlessly spare Monster Kid, which takes you out of the genocide run and into a neutral run. But it's a neutral run where you killed Papyrus, so Undyne's still pissed when you get to the mountaintop where she normally waits for you.

But if you take those Ballet Shoes you found and kick Monster Kid in the face instead...

: ...My body... It feels like it's splitting apart... Like any instant, I'll scatter into a million pieces. But... Deep, depp in my soul. There's a burning feeling I can't describe. A burning feeling that WON'T let me die.

: This isn't just about monsters anymore, is it? If you get past me, you'll... You'll destroy them all, won't you? Monsters... Humans... Everyone... Everyone's hopes. Everyone's dreams. Vanquished in an instant. But I WON'T let you do that. Right now, everyone in the world...

: I can feel their hearts beating as one. And we all have ONE goal. To defeat YOU. Human. No, WHATEVER you are. For the sake of the whole world...

The screen goes white, and when it dims again...

The heroine appears.

One of the only monsters with enough Determination to keep going after death, and not lose her shape, Undyne is now a rage-fueled hot-blooded heroine with a million energy spears and a chip on her shoulder.

This is the most straightforward fight in the entire game. There's nothing in the ACT menu except "Check", and nothing in the Mercy menu but "Spare", and that's never an option. This is nothing but a one-on-one slog against a particularly determined spear-fish.

Undyne's attacks are largely the same as in a neutral run, switching back and forth between blocking incoming spears with a green soul and dodging bullet storms as a red soul.

They're a LOT MORE INTENSE THOUGH. And given Undyne's higher attack power, one hit will shave off about 12 HP, if you're wearing the Old Tutu. So no more than six hits, and you're dead. A problem with the genocide run I discovered in this fight: healing items that can take you back up to full in a pacifist or even a neutral run, like the Cinnamon Bun or the Crab Apple, are just a drop in the bucket compared to your genocide HP total. I have to eat several Snowman Pieces, and those are a limited resource.

Sea Tea is only a 10 HP restore, but the SOUL moves around inside the bullet box a little faster for the rest of the fight. Skipping a turn for the effect is a liability against Undyne the Undying, so I chug the Tea down before hitting Monster Kid.

I also hike back to Gerson and trade my Ballet Shoes for the Torn Notebook. It's a tough call! The Torn Notebook has five fewer points of attack than the Ballet Shoes; the Cloud Glasses five fewer points of defense than the Old Tutu. But both of those nerdy items increase the amount of time you're invincible after a hit, and fucking up the green-soul bit and getting hit can disrupt your rhythm enough that you get hit two or three more times just trying to get back in the swing of things.

Undyne doesn't vary her attack much. The first attack is always a slow green-soul block from the top, then circles clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise. The second round is only from the left and right. And so on. After a dozen or so tries, human pattern recognition kicks in and you just start memorizing what to do.

Oh, and I swapped back the Ballet Shoes. It's better to do more damage and end the fight sooner than be invincible for an immeasurably small amount of time during those end-of-battle bullet storms.

: Damn it... So even THAT power... It wasn't enough...? ...Heh... Heheheh...